I´ve seen this subject discussed many times in many foruns around the web , but what are your picks on this one ? I will always mention "Purgatory" , by Iron Maiden , as probably the first true "Thrash" song , but thos is just my opinion ...

I´ve seen this subject discussed many times in many foruns around the web , but what are your picks on this one ? I will always mention "Purgatory" , by Iron Maiden , as probably the first true "Thrash" song , but thos is just my opinion ...

Gotta agree with you. When first hearing this I thought it sounded pretty damn thrashy. Interested to see what others come up with.

Witching Hour is the only real candidate for proto thrash metal in my opinion. It has that chunky punkiness that makes thrash what it is.

Not all Thrash is "punkish" at all . I mean , I am a musician . Thrash has a lot of elements of Punk / HC on the rhythm session . Attitude as well . but musically , Thrash is hardly "punkish" most of the time . But yeah , Venom was the closest thing sounding "Thrash Metal" before Thrash existed ...

Witching Hour is the only real candidate for proto thrash metal in my opinion. It has that chunky punkiness that makes thrash what it is.

Not all Thrash is "punkish" at all . I mean , I am a musician . Thrash has a lot of elements of Punk / HC on the rhythm session . Attitude as well . but musically , Thrash is hardly "punkish" most of the time . But yeah , Venom was the closest thing sounding "Thrash Metal" before Thrash existed ...

Not all Thrash is "punkish" at all . I mean , I am a musician . Thrash has a lot of elements of Punk / HC on the rhythm session . Attitude as well . but musically , Thrash is hardly "punkish" most of the time . But yeah , Venom was the closest thing sounding "Thrash Metal" before Thrash existed ...

without the punk/hc elements its just speed metal.

I don't agree with that. Tyrant and Exciter are pretty thrashy for their time and when you get to Unleashed In The East there's no punk influence whatsoever.

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gasmask_colostomy wrote:

TrooperEd (who mentions Motorhead twice, so he clearly has other fish to fry)

If you're going to pick a Scorpions song, He's A Woman, She's A Man is a much better candidate for a proto-thrash song than anything from Blackout.

Surprised that nobody's mentioned Fast As A Shark by Accept. That song was considered a standard among the pioneers of the early thrash scene. The title track from Restless & Wild is quite thrashy too.

Eh, if you're gonna take a song from Blackout, Dynamite is the better candidate. Can't Get Enough as well.

Those are all excellent songs, but there is not a single thrash riff in any of them.

2:22 in Dynamite sure sounds like thrash to me.

MorbidEarth wrote:

If you're going to pick a Scorpions song, He's A Woman, She's A Man is a much better candidate for a proto-thrash song than anything from Blackout.

Surprised that nobody's mentioned Fast As A Shark by Accept. That song was considered a standard among the pioneers of the early thrash scene. The title track from Restless & Wild is quite thrashy too.

I think by 82 thrash was already at the very least in a larvae stage, so that's a little too late for "before thrash existed."

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gasmask_colostomy wrote:

TrooperEd (who mentions Motorhead twice, so he clearly has other fish to fry)

"Paranoid" (1970) is grasping towards thrash and "Children of the Grave" (1971) gets even closer.

"Stone Cold Crazy" (1974) and "Symptom of the Universe" (1975) also deserve mention.

I think Stone Cold Crazy really has the stop-start staccato and bursts of lead guitar down to a tee. Except sounding like thrash doesn't really make it the first thrash song. But whatever, interesting suggestions.

I still think "Now" , by Scoprions , is kinda proto thrash because of the intensity , but anyways ...

"Now" definitely, but the Scorps' main contribution to the more brutal side of metal comes a bit earlier, from their 70's material, "He's a Woman, She's a Man" and "Steamrock Fever" from "Taken by Force" as already mentioned here; this savage piece of metal called "Another Piece of Meat" from "Lovedrive"... "Can't Get Enough" from that same album, too. To point at the more obvious ones...

Perhaps Symptom Of the Universe. I would not call it thrash entirely but definitely has some intense thrash riffage for 1975. Sheer Heart Attack by Queen was another good example of early thrash riffs, in 1977.

Triumph Street Fighter Suite was quite a bruising thrash metal riffs. It is a two part song, the first part simply titled Man is definitive proto-thrash metal. Thrash riffs, intense double bass insanity, soaring soprano vocals and thunderous bass lines with dark lyrical content. The second part simply titled Reprise is .... Folk music? The Folk element builds quite extravagantly to an amazing thrash metal finale before a classical guitar conclusion.

While not a thrash song perse, the same year Triumph did a number of Thrash breaks in the song Let Me Get Next To You. All of that in 1975.

If we're going to quote music from 1981 onwards, Metal Church had Merciless Onslaught on a demo back then.If we're talking 1982, there's more Metal Church, some Metallica and Anthrax (the Across the River part before Howling Furies).

If demos are out of scope, then obviously Ace of Spades. Honourable mention to Gillan's Unchain your Brain (1980)

And yes, Triumph, while the whole song having many quiet parts, there is some proto-thrash riffing in that 1976 song. But the topic is "first thrash metal song".

_________________No, we are not living in a dream, and don't call me Shirley.

So these examples given in the whole thread are not thrash metal too,man. Anyway nevermind then.PS. What really matter is that Motorhead was a thrash metal band "before Thrash existed" . Don't know If the first, this is a hard and well subjective question.

So these examples given in the whole thread are not thrash metal too,man. Anyway nevermind then.PS. What really matter is that Motorhead was a thrash metal band "before Thrash existed" . Don't know If the first, this is a hard and well subjective question.

Motorhead simply provided more aggressive ways of execution, the way many others did in the late-70's/early-80's, on a couple of songs; that's all. Their significance regarding the spawning of the speed/thrash metal genres is by no means bigger than the one of any other band mentioned here.

The guys, like Lemmy (R.I.P.) had said it so well many times in the past, were just sticking to their own sped-up, noisier version of the good old rock'n roll... from where all things came if you think of it.